Wealthy whites seek separation from Atlanta blacks

Published: Friday, January 08, 2010

Shannon McCaffrey

ATLANTA - In the cradle of the Civil Rights movement, a new secession effort is under way that would break off Atlanta's predominantly white, wealthy suburbs to the north from poorer, black neighborhoods in the south.

There's a renewed push to take some suburbs out of Fulton County, Georgia's most populous and home to most of the city of Atlanta, and put them under the now-extinct Milton County.

Its supporters hope resurrecting the county would give residents there more responsive government. But opponents say the measure is racially motivated and will open up a deep rift between black and white, rich and poor in a state with a complicated racial history. The area that would be split off is more than 75 percent white, while a large block of the remaining portion of Fulton County is 90 percent minority.

"It sends a message when you say the hometown of Dr. Martin Luther King is going to be split apart in a kind of latter-day secessionist movement," said state Sen. Vincent Fort, an Atlanta Democrat.

The idea isn't new. But these days, there's some muscle behind the movement now that its sponsor is about to become House speaker pro tem, the second-most powerful position in the Georgia House of Representatives. The measure made it out of House committee this year. It's been stymied so far by questions about the counties' financial viability and the tangle of laws that would have to be changed.

The region that became Milton County was originally part of the Cherokee Indian Nation until the state of Georgia grabbed the land in the 1830s. The Cherokees were expelled to what is now Oklahoma and cotton plantations flourished there, helped along by cheap slave labor before the Civil War.

But a boll weevil infestation of cotton in the early part of the 20th century decimated the county's economy. After limping along financially, Milton County was folded into Fulton County in 1932 during the Great Depression.

The shotgun marriage worked as the sprawling new Fulton County grew and thrived.

But it's that very growth that has made Fulton County residents frustrated by the unwieldy behemoth the county has become, saying it's slow to respond to their concerns and wastes money.

"The issue is what the hell are they doing with our money," Joe Stewardson said as he sipped coffee at a shop in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward neighborhood, home to Martin Luther King's birthplace.